Innovative power plant to be built, tested in Albany

Foster-Miller Inc., a unit of QinetiQ North America, has been awarded a $500,000 contract from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to build and test a prototype Stirling power system that will use landfill and other waste gases to produce electricity.

The Stirling system uses just two moving parts in a sealed housing, and can operate with various types of waste and dirty fuels — unlike more traditional microturbines and combustion engines, where the fuel must be cleaned up before use.

Using the gases in this manner also avoids having to treat them before they’re discharged into the atmosphere, the company said.

“New power systems like Stirling are an important step towards the effective use of waste and dirty fuel energy sources,” said Tom Walter, general manager of Foster-Miller’s Albany office, where the work will be performed.

The Albany contract is one of two Foster-Miller has to demonstrate the Stirling. The other is being built for potential use on the moon, at a future manned lunar base.